Just why Zeschuk lost his passion for gaming remains a bit unclear. Was it because of the sale to EA, Star Wars: The Old Republic's relatively small subscriber base, the anger some fans felt over the ending of the Mass Effect trilogy?
"Everything's a factor," Zeschuk tells me. "There's nothing that's not a factor, but there's no single one thing. I think the best way I can describe is: Do the same thing for twenty years and it's very, very intense. It's very high pressure. It's very high stress. It's challenging. It's sometimes rewarding and sometimes it's not. And you just get tired of it after awhile. That is probably the easiest way to for me to describe it. Sometimes you just need to change things.
"One of the few things I find kind of funny is the responses of the fans, because they sort of respond that they are kind of mad at us for leaving because they think we owe them more games. You know it's sad I wish I could deliver on that, but I don't think I would be as good as I was in that space historically. Like I said, the fire wasn't there."

"One of the few things I find kind of funny is the responses of the fans, because they sort of respond that they are kind of mad at us for leaving because they think we owe them more games."

Players / Gamers demand that they, the Doctors, "owe them more games" ???

In what kind of world do we live ? Where consumers demand things to be produced for them, or else … ???

— “ Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.“ (E.F.Schumacher, Economist, Source)

they quit because their passion was gone, they weren't forced out
fans are mad because they want them to make more games (even after it was said there was a bad reaction from fans)
their time at EA was their most successful and enduring part of the company, and not Baldur's Gate

pretty glib article

Originally Posted by Gorath
Bioware didn't sell to EA.

so..the $680-800million dollars was real money? I know the dollar has been dropping but…

My understanding is that both Bioware and Pandemic were owned by a private equity firm called Elevation Partners. Elevation is the one who sold the company to EA. It isn't clear that the Bioware founders even had a say in the deal. But by all means let's keep beating up on them.

Originally Posted by khaight
My understanding is that both Bioware and Pandemic were owned by a private equity firm called Elevation Partners. Elevation is the one who sold the company to EA. It isn't clear that the Bioware founders even had a say in the deal. But by all means let's keep beating up on them.

Pretty sure they orchestrated the deal

Originally Posted by Gorath
Let me spell it for you. They did not sell to EA. And they did not sell for 600-800M$.

was not sure if you were just being technical, trying to be silly or both. putting the dollar sign after the value, that's being silly indeed.

Whatever happened, the corporate involvement has had a sterile effect on PC games over the past decade. Things are starting to look a bit brighter now, but maybe some of the old dogs have had their day.

Originally Posted by Roq
Whatever happened, the corporate involvement has had a sterile effect on PC games over the past decade. Things are starting to look a bit brighter now, but maybe some of the old dogs have had their day.

True, but the rise of Indie developed games along with the help of things like Kickstarter has helped bring back some of that old developer magic.

People are funny. I guess they never imagine the absurdity of complete strangers being upset with them should they ever someday change their career. It's a bizzaro-world level of entitlement out there…

— If I'm right but there is no wife around to acknowledge it, am I still right?

Dry facts can't prove it, but it seems sensible to assume that the doctors had a significant role in the passing of their BioWare stock to EA. Even though it was not a direct transaction, and Johnny R was not an influential figure in Elevation Partners.

I hope the doctors are enjoying their wealth - BioWare as a company had boatloads of goodwill, a firm, niche product where they were an almost undisputed leader, and a cult-like devoted customer base. BioWare could reasonably have gone on without EA. Now the employees who helped create some of the most inspirational code have a future as EA spouses making cheap Skyrim and Halo clones.

Originally Posted by TheMadGamer
People are funny. I guess they never imagine the absurdity of complete strangers being upset with them should they ever someday change their career. It's a bizzaro-world level of entitlement out there…

Bizzaro world indeed.
When I read things like that and the few times I visit BSN I have this strong urge to shout "Get a Life" to some people who enjoys (or do they?) the games that we tend to play and bicker over.

Originally Posted by TheMadGamer
People are funny. I guess they never imagine the absurdity of complete strangers being upset with them should they ever someday change their career. It's a bizzaro-world level of entitlement out there…

I don't think this is what's happening at all - maybe its the exclusive group at Bioware that he only chooses to listen too.

However, I have expressed in the past that I think he would better serve everyone going back into medicine. But who am I to say that to anyone.